Michigan Hockey: CHS Rewind / Buckeye Preview
Posted at 8:00am — 12/3/2010
Michigan Hockey: CHS Rewind / Buckeye Preview
#11 MICHIGAN (8-4-4, 7-2-1-0) 3rd CCHA vs Ohio State (5-7-1, 2-5-1-1) 9th CCHA
Friday 12/3 7:05 p.m. & Saturday 12/4 7:05 p.m. Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Friday live on BTN & Saturday on bigtennetwork.com
Rewinding Last Week’s Action:
The Wolverines traveled to Madison for a match up last Friday night against the Badgers and ended up with a 4-4 tie. Michigan raced out to a 2-0 lead behind a goal from Luke Moffatt and a PPG from Carl Hagelin. Wisconsin closed the lead to 2-1 adding the first of three PPG’s. Wisconsin tied the game at 2-2 early in the second frame. Less than a minute later, Chris Brown scored a PPG to give Michigan a 3-2 lead. The Badgers fought back to tie again before Louie Caporusso scored right from a faceoff win to put Michigan up 4-3 entering the third period. The Badgers scored their third PPG inside the first minute of the last period to force a draw. Both teams had chances to break the tie, but both Shawn Hunwick and Brett Bennett stood tall in goal the remainder of the period and into overtime.
Michigan then traveled to Minneapolis for the last game of the eighteen year College Hockey Showcase and dropped an uninspiring 3-1 loss to the Gophers. Minnesota overcame a strong first ten minutes by the Wolverines and added a late period goal to take a 1-0 lead into the locker room. Michigan was victimized by a neutral zone turnover that led to a two on one break that the Gophers finished five hole on Bryan Hogan. The Gophers bottled up the Wolverines in the second period, although Michigan outshot them 12-4. The Wolverines wasted a great chance to tie the game when they were given a five minute powerplay for a CFB penalty on Minnesota defenseman, Aaron Ness. The Maize and Blue managed just four shots and never threatened. Minnesota upped their lead to 2-0 on another neutral zone turnover. They scored on a deflected 50 foot slapshot that went off of Michigan defenseman Tristin Llewellyn’s stick. Scooter Vaughn muscled his way to the Gopher net just over a minute later and slammed his own rebound past Alex Kangas to tighten the score at 2-1. Michigan’s Lee Moffie was whistled for a late period penalty and the Gophers made good, scoring with less than a half a minute to go to extend their lead to 3-1. Michigan outshot the Gophers in the third period, but once again failed to take advantage of their chances, including a David Wohlberg shorthanded breakaway. Minnesota played a solid defensive game even though Michigan outshot them, 37-26.
Michigan finished with the best overall CHS record at 20-14-2 and winning percentage amongst the four teams.
Michigan dropped to 11th in the latest polls with the subpar weekend results. They also dropped two points behind first place Miami in the CCHA and sit one point behind second place Notre Dame.
Nuttin But The Facts:
The Wolverines now travel to Columbus for a pair of games against the Buckeyes. This is a very important series because Michigan needs to take points against the weaker sisters of the CCHA and keep pace with Miami and Notre Dame, who are squaring off against each other this weekend, also.
The Buckeye hockey program is like the ugly red headed stepchild amongst the other major sports at Ohio State. They have struggled in recent seasons both in attendance at cavernous Value City Arena and on the ice, winning one CCHA playoff championship (against Michigan) and only making one Frozen Four appearance in the past 12 seasons. The administration finally made a coaching change this past off season, bringing in long time Wisconsin assistant coach Mark Osiecki to take over for beleaguered coach John Markell. Osiecki immediately made an impact, sending off several veteran players that “didn’t fit his program profile”.
He is pushing the Buckeyes into his own brand of up tempo hockey, a more offensive style that simulates the WCHA’s better programs.
He has plenty of experience to work with, featuring a roster with ten seniors and four juniors. So far the transition has been difficult, as the Buckeyes have struggled to a 5-7-1-1 record. They really do not have any huge signature victories to talk about, splitting on the road at the ECACHL’s Quinnipiac, and dropping a home game against the Atlantic Hockey Conference’s Robert Morris. They have split with #20 Ferris State on the road and swept a terrible Alabama Huntsville squad (of the now defunct CHA conference) in Columbus. The Bucks have been swept at NMU more recently, split at #16 Michigan State and just finished a home weekend meeting with #14 Alaska that ended in a shootout win and a resounding 5-2 loss.
They’re Still The Buckeyes:
Throw out their record, especially when Michigan comes to town. The Wolverines and Buckeyes have faced each other 106 times in their history, with the Wolverines holding a 65-30-11 lead, including a 28-15-5 record in Columbus. It always seems to raise the level of the Buckeye’s play- which was always a knock on the previous coach. It seems that the Bucks would look like conference leaders against Michigan and fall flat against most other conference foes. The recent record seems to support that, as these teams have battled to splits in three of the past four series, with two of those series down south. Michigan will face the Bucks four times this season, with a re-match in Ann Arbor in February. Last season, Michigan lost 5-3 and won 2-1 in Columbus.
Osiecki will try to match up OSU’s big scoring line as best he can. Seniors Sergio Somma (6-7-13), John Albert (4-9-13), Peter Boyd (4-5-9) and C.J. Severyn (3-4-7) lead the Buckeye attack. Junior Danny Dries not only has contributed offensively (6-6-12) but has a bit of grit to his game- adding thirty minutes of penalties to his ledger already this season. Senior blue liner Shane Sims (1-8-9) is no stranger to this rivalry. He leads the Bucks with a +7 rating. He is aided by fellow stay at home senior d-men Chris Reed and Corey Toy.
The goaltending has been handled by junior Cal Heeter (5-7-1, 2.57 GAA and .909 save %). Backup Dustin Carlson is an experienced senior netminder, but has not had a decision this season.
Tale Of The Tape:
Michigan and Ohio State are fairly close in many areas. Michigan is currently 16th in the country in goal scoring average, potting 3.38 goals per game while Ohio State ranks 26th at 2.92 goals per game. Both are close in goals against, with Michigan sitting tied for 18th overall at allowing 2.56 goals per game. The Buckeyes are at 2.69 goals against or 22nd in the country. Michigan’s dismal powerplay conversion moved up minimally to 15.9% or 36th in the country. They converted two PP chances out of eleven last weekend which pretty much kept them in Friday’s game and doomed them on Sunday. Ohio State’s PP is at 18.3%, good for 24th nationally. Michigan may take advantage of their over-aggressive tendencies as the Bucks have already yielded three shorthanded goals this season. Michigan also suffered a poor showing in killing penalties against the Badgers and Gophers, yielding four PPG’s last weekend. They are now killing 82.3% of their chances, 27th in the nation. OSU on the other hand is sitting at a poor 78.6%, 43rd in the country. The Wolverines are still averaging 15.8 minutes in penalties per game / tied 17th worst (as Red Berenson mildly chuckled about WCHA officiating this weekend) and OSU is modestly better, holding a 13.6 minute average which is 28th.
It is tough to say that Michigan can take advantage of OSU’s poor penalty killing, but then again it appears to be an opportunity for both teams. Most games between the two teams slide into chippy and abnormally fragmented affairs that feature plenty of scrums and tight checking, so disciplined play and officiating may certainly play a huge role this weekend.
Wolverine Notes:
Carl Hagelin continues as the team leader in points, adding a goal against Wisconsin to boost his totals to 7-9-16 (+7). Unfortunately, he was also on the ice for three goals against. Louie Caporusso’s 5-9-14 (+13) was increased by a tally against the Badgers last weekend. Scooter Vaughn (7-2-9) scored the lone goal at Minnesota to increase his team tying goals lead with Hagelin at seven. Brandon Burlon leads the defense in points with a 4-6-10 line. Chris Brown finally hit the net to boost his numbers to 2-8-10. Kevin Lynch is at 6-3-9. Matt Rust is at 3-6-9, which is far below expectations for the talented center man. He also is a team low -1 on the season. Jon Merrill has added 2-7-9 which is a bonus from the big freshman defender. Three other Wolverines are tied with eight points.
The Wolverines continue to show their depth through their scoring by committee. Yet, the top guns so to speak have not shown up in the bigger games this season and need to become more consistent. The statistics bear out a dangerous trend of continuing to not take advantage of scoring opportunities or PP chances. The Wolverines finally ended a 0 for 25 PPG slump at Wisconsin. Michigan’s penalty killing can’t be faulted too much this weekend considering that they were playing against two of the best PP teams in the country. Still, the powerplay goal they gave up against Minnesota broke their backs and came at the most inopportune time. It shows that, even with improved discipline, the timing of a penalty matters as much as the quantity of penalties they are taking.
Bryan Hogan and Shawn Hunwick will continue to split duties. Hunwick is 2-2-4 with a 2.77 GAA and a .903 save%. Hogan’s record dropped to 6-2 with a 2.25 GAA and a .919. Both goaltenders pondered chances that got by them this weekend, but really couldn’t be held accountable for the overall sloppy (Friday) and flat (Sunday) play displayed by the team. The writer hopes that an important weekend CCHA rivalry series will jumpstart Michigan. It would be a nice segue into the Big Chill and a good way to save a little face against “that school to the south” that seems to have an overall competitive athletic program edge on the Wolverines.
Keys To The Weekend:
1. Michigan needs to use their skill and speed over the outmatched Buckeyes.
2. Keep your heads, Wolverines. The Buckeyes are experienced and will keep things close.
3. Goal-tending may be an x-factor this weekend also.
4. Michigan’s PP has to be a difference maker. More importantly, the PK has to be outstanding.
Yostmeister’s Prediction:
Friday – Buckeyes 2 Michigan 2 (OSU wins shootout, 2-0)
Saturday – Michigan 4 Buckeyes 2
Written by GBMWolverine Staff
Go Blue — Wear Maize!